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Epic Games Response
  • ZhugeEX

    Senior Analyst at Niko Partners
    Verified
    Oct 24, 2017
    3,099
    Information
    Added Epic Games response to the OP


    We use a tracking pixel (tracking.js) for our Support-A-Creator program so we can pay creators. We also track page statistics.

    The launcher sends a hardware survey (CPU, GPU, and the like) at a regular interval as outlined in our privacy policy(see the "Information We Collect or Receive" section). You can find the code here.

    The UDP traffic highlighted in this post is a launcher feature for communication with the Unreal Editor. The source of the underlying system is available on github.

    The majority of the launcher UI is implemented using web technology that is being rendered by Chromium (which is open source). The root certificate and cookie access mentioned above is a result of normal web browser start up.

    The launcher scans your active processes to prevent updating games that are currently running. This information is not sent to Epic.

    We only import your Steam friends with your explicit permission. The launcher makes an encrypted local copy of your localconfig.vdf Steam file. However information from this file is only sent to Epic if you choose to import your Steam friends, and then only hashed ids of your friends are sent and no other information from the file.

    Epic is controlled by Tim Sweeney. We have lots of external shareholders, none of whom have access to customer data.

    Daniel Vogel
    VP of Engineering
    Epic Games Inc.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixPoi..._game_store_spyware_tracking_and_you/eijlbge/
     
    Valve Responds (March 15th)
  • crimsonheadGCN

    The Fallen
    Oct 25, 2017
    3,026
    Clifton, NJ
    Valve has responded:

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...-to-fix-game-launcher-after-privacy-concerns/

    We are looking into what information the Epic launcher collects from Steam.

    The Steam Client locally saves data such as the list of games you own, your friends list and saved login tokens (similar to information stored in web browser cookies). This is private user data, stored on the user's home machine and is not intended to be used by other programs or uploaded to any 3rd party service.

    Interested users can find localconfig.vdf and other Steam configuration files in their Steam Client's installation directory and open them in a text editor to see what data is contained in these files. They can also view all data related to their Steam account at: https://help.steampowered.com/en/accountdata.